


Holidays and Apologies and Presents

by 1QuietStiles7



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Not Beta Read, Platonic Relationships, and they were platonic roommates, big jerk, by super late I mean I started this december 2019, disrespectful jerk, just ya know super later christmas story, kihyun is a jerk at first, there's some fluff maybe if you squint, we die like wei wuxian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:48:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28042674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1QuietStiles7/pseuds/1QuietStiles7
Summary: You were DRAINED after spending Christmas with your family. You loved them but there was a reason you never moved back to your hometown after graduation. So when you pulled up to your apartment building all you wanted to do was sleep. Unfortunately your roommate arrived early and invited friends over without telling you. Will you two be able to makeup or will you be looking for a new apartment and roommate.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4
Collections: Monsta X Winter Collection 2019





	Holidays and Apologies and Presents

It's 2 days past Christmas and you just arrived home after spending the holiday with your family in your hometown. You were exhausted, both mentally and physically, drained from spending the last two weeks with so many people, answering the same questions. You wanted nothing more than to make it into your apartment without running into any of your neighbors, pour a glass of wine and sleep for the next 6 hours at least. You made it into the building and elevator without having to speak to anyone, at least. You weren’t quite so lucky once you actually made it to your apartment.

See, you don’t live alone but you knew your roommate was still back home until tomorrow. At least, that’s what he told you a few days ago when you texted him to let him know you’d be home today so he wouldn’t need his friend Jooheon to come over in the evening to feed your cat. You texted him again today asking if there was anything he wanted you to pick up at the store before getting home but he hadn’t responded by the time you had pulled up to your building but you weren’t surprised, he rarely answered you if you were honest. If you were honest, you didn’t have the closest relationship with your roomie, both of you being friends of friends that had needed a roommate to share the cost of an apartment in the city. You’d been cohabitating for about 8 months now but mostly stayed out of each other’s way but had enough spats to know that you were both stubborn and independent.

You’re not really paying attention to the noise coming from your apartment, mostly thinking it’s coming from one of the surrounding apartments. So when you finally do open the door and get inside it’s already too late. You stand in the little entryway/hall, trying to absorb what you were seeing. You were pretty sure it was Minhyuk chasing a half naked girl around the couch, while your roommate and his friends were howling with laughter. It took the others about thirty seconds longer to realize that you were standing there. 

“___!” Hoseok shouts and moves to come toward you when the look on your face stops him. It’s not that you dislike him or any of Kihyun’s friends but you were so tired and just wanted to sleep but that was clearly out of the question now. 

“What are you doing here?” Your words come out harsher sounding than you meant them to. The others freeze and look between you and Kihyun questioningly.

“Ki, I thought you said you told ___ that we were coming over today,” Hyunwoo says. He was the oldest of the group and gave off himbo energy most of the time but he was also caring and gentle. 

“Why would I have to? Why are you being so rude Y/n?” Kihyun asks, clear irritation written on his face. You try to hold on to your remaining patience, you really do. You take a deep breath and try counting to ten before replying, except you get to four and you hear him mutter ‘typical’ under his breath.

“Right! Cause I’m the one being rude, inviting others over without even a courtesy text. You knew I was coming home today!” You can feel yourself start to break and tears gathering in your throat and you’d be damned to let him see you cry. They weren’t even real tears, you were just so tired and hadn’t been prepared for this when you came home.

“Whatever ___, this is my apartment, too. They’re already here so just get over it,” Kihyun throws back, silently stating that he wasn’t going to apologize for not telling you. You were biting your cheek so hard you couldn’t even point out that he basically just admitted that he knew what he did was wrong. “Just go to your room if you don’t want to be bothered.”

The last shred of your control snaps at his dismissive tone and tear slides uninhibited down your cheek. You quickly swipe it away but it was too late because they had all seen it. You quickly turned around and went back out the door you had just entered not ten minutes ago, thankful you hadn’t removed your boots or coat yet. You made it downstairs and outside into the bitterly cold evening air, with no real direction in mind, you turned and started walking down the sidewalk. You’re not sure how long you’d been walking but found yourself outside of an all-night diner, one of those little places with laminated menus, greasy fries, and perfect milkshakes. You were about to continue walking when your stomach decided to remind you that you hadn’t eaten since you left your parents around 11 this morning, a glance at your watch tells you it’s almost 9pm so you head inside and grab a seat at the counter.

“I’ll be with you in just a minute, sweetie,” the waitress tells you as she walks by with a tray full of food for a booth in the corner. You nod and try to smile at her to acknowledge her words but you’re pretty certain that it looked more like a grimace. “Alright sweetie, what can I get you?”

“Oh, um, I’m sorry. I haven’t even looked at the menu,” you tell, ready to apologize again and feeling on the verge of tears again. She takes a good look at your face and pats your hand.

“That’s just fine,” she says with a smile. “I can give you some recommendations if you’d like.” You nod with a sniff. “Good, good. Let’s see here. If you’re wanting something light the caesar bacon salad is pretty good. If you are wanting breakfast, Jeno’s house omelette is probably the best this side of Seoul. Oh, you know what? Chi whipped up an amazing pot roast with potatoes and carrots. I had it for dinner myself, truly made me miss my mother’s cooking.” You mull over the options and decide on the pot roast, feeling down and wanting some comfort food.

“Alright, I’ll get that right into Jeno for you. My name’s Minyoon, you just give a wave if you need anything.” With that she slips into the kitchen, presumably to submit your order. While you wait you look over the diner, you can see into part of the kitchen. You can see the cook, you assume this is Jeno, whipping something in a bowl while a younger kid stands at the stove cooking. There are 7 other diners, 4 in the corner booth, a couple in another next to the door, and a middle aged man on the other end of the counter. It seems just the three staff members as you haven’t seen anyone other than Minyoon, Jeno, and the other kid, but given the hour you shouldn’t be that surprised.

You’re startled out of your musings when a milkshake is slid in front you. “I didn’t order this,” you tell the kid.

“Minyoon said you could use it though,” he tells you with a cheeky smile. “It’s on the house.” With that he leaves you alone again. You stare at the milkshake for a minute before grabbing the spoon he had placed next to it and spooned up a dollop of whipped cream. Minyoon brings your food by a few minutes later and you thank her for the shake.

“Don’t worry about it, we’ve all had those days,” she tells you. She goes off to clear away the booth in the corner that had left about 10 minutes ago. When Minyoon returns she refills your water. “So what’s his name?”

Her question makes you pause, “Whose name?” You ask cause you don’t know what she means.

“The boy who sent you out in this dreary cold crying,” she replies. “Only a guy could make me walk in the cold crying cause of a broken heart.”

“Oh, no,” you quickly assure her. “It’s not like that. Really,” you say when she gives you a pointed look. 

“Okay, I’ll believe you. So what happened, I mean if you want to talk about it.”

“It’s nothing really, he didn’t even do anything horrible.”

“Hah! So it was a boy,” she says smugly.

You chuckle a little, the warm food helping you to relax. “Well, yes and no. He is Kihyun and he’s my roommate, but that’s all,” you hastily add knowing how people like to make assumptions when it’s roommates.

“So what did this Kihyun do,” she asks, with enough emphasis on this to let you know she thinks he’s dirt already and you smile a little knowing that someone doesn’t like him. You don’t even care if it makes you a terrible person right now.

“Well for starters, he returned home early and didn’t bother to let me know. He knew I was returning today. But that’s whatever,” you shrug because if you broke down everything, you didn’t care that he didn’t tell you he was returning early. The waitress nods in understanding. “So yeah he’s at home now but so are all his friends. Like all of them! And he couldn’t be bothered to let me know because, and I quote, ‘this is my apartment too’.” You add air quotes and everything.

“That butthead,” Minyoon says. The insult catches you off guard because you expect it from a 3-year old, not a middle-aged woman in a diner. It makes you giggle.

“He really is,” you nod in affirmation but after a moment of sitting in righteous agreement you have to continue. “Don’t get me wrong, I like his friends. They’re fun, if a little much sometimes.”

“And this was one of those times?”

You take a deep breath and sigh, “Yes. I was returning from my family’s, after being away for a couple weeks and just wanted to come home have a glass of wine and sleep until morning. But as soon as I walked in I knew that couldn’t happen. They were laughing like hyenas because Minhyuk was chasing some girl around the living room. Oh and she was wearing half her clothes!” Minyoon just tuts so you continue, feeling better as you continue to vent to this stranger.

“He didn’t even send a courtesy text,” you reiterate, “not a ‘hey ___ the guys are coming over tonight.’ Nothing! So I just walked in on all that madness and when one of his friends called him out on it he said that and told me to get over it cause they were already there and to go to my room! Like I was a disobedient child!”

“The audacity of men,” Minyoon interjects. “My husband once tried something similar, didn’t tell me to go to my room, mind you. But acted similar and was dismissive towards me also.”

“How did you get past it? I mean I assume you’re still together.”

She smiles, “we are, it’ll be 26 years next month.” You smile at the knowledge that they worked it out. “But it wasn’t easy, I didn’t speak to him unless absolutely necessary for almost a month. Oh he tried to get back in my favor, buying me gifts and making dinner for me and other things but I just said thank you and set them aside. He finally got it through his thick head and apologized. We’ve had our spats since then but nothing that’s ever lasted that long since.”

“Minyoon, I appreciate you telling me that story but if I wait for him to apologize I think my lease will end first and will just move out.” Minyoon lets out a big laugh at that.

“Oh no sweetie, I’m not saying that at all. I know that I could have handled that situation better now, looking back. I’m just saying that it might take him some time to realize that he was wrong and apologize.” You nod at her words. “And if he doesn’t, you just bring him on down here and I’ll tell,” she says forcefully. You laugh at her words, feeling much better than when you first walked in. You look at your phone and realize you’d been there for over 2 hours.

“Aish, I should be getting home. It’s almost midnight.” You both walk over to the register and you hand her money for your meal, having slipped her tip under your plate. You begin wrapping your scarf around your neck again when she asks how you’ll be getting home because she noticed there was only one car still in the front lot. “Oh, I walked here. I can just walk home.”

“Oh no, you can’t do that. Not at this hour. You just sit here a minute and I’ll have Johnny drive you home.”

“Really it’s not that far and I don’t want to pull him from his work.”

“Hah work,” she laughs. “The only thing that kid is doing is back there playing on his phone.” You nod then in agreement to have him drive you (it didn’t take much convincing if you were honest. With it being so cold and late, you didn’t feel much like walking). Minyoon returns a moment later followed by the young boy from earlier. “Johnny you take her home and get straight back here.”

“I knooooow,” he says and gives you a smile. “Just follow me, I’ll be your personal driver tonight.” You chuckle at his words and nod again. You follow him around the side of the diner to his car. “So what’s the address?”

You tell him your building address and he swivels his head to look at you. “And you wanted to walk there?” You are a little perplexed by his question.

“Yes?” You say but it comes out more like a question.

“That’s like a 45-minute walk,” he tells you. Oh, you think.

“I guess I walked farther than I thought. Thanks,” you smile at him again. You both slip your seatbelts on and he starts up the car. He’s got music playing in the background but too low for you to catch any of it, not that you were paying attention to it. You chat almost the whole time, you find that he’s 19, really friendly, and Minyoon is his cousin. About ten minutes later, he’s pulled up in front of your building. You thank him again and get out but he doesn’t drive off. He rolls down the window and tells you with another smile, “I’ve got strict instructions to make sure you get inside.”

You feel yourself smile again and head inside, punching in the door code and waving through the glass once you’re safely inside. You see him wave back and pull away from the curb. You stand there a moment longer, looking out at the mostly empty street before heading upstairs. You sigh and walk to the elevator and push the button. The door opens immediately, you step inside and press the button for your floor. You get to your floor, for the second time tonight and you notice it’s much quieter than the first time you made this trek today. It’s after midnight now so you try to be quiet while going inside and taking off your coat and boots. You notice that your suitcase isn’t in the entryway anymore. You look in the closet while hanging up your coat, assuming that your roommate put it in there after you left again, but it wasn’t there.

“I, uh,” and you scream. It takes you less than 2 seconds to realize that it’s your roommate talking and you just lay your head on the doorframe. 

“Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you. I put it in your room,” he says quickly. You pick your head up and walk into the living room, he looks at you once then looks away and then back. You nod and head to your room, you don’t say anything. You know you should but you’re still upset and just want to go to bed so that’s what you do.

You feel better in the morning, not 100% back to normal but better than yesterday (sleeping in your own bed has that effect). You step out of your room to a silent apartment, which was a little odd since Kihyun usually would have the tv or music playing. You look at the clock and realize it’s after 11, well no wonder, you think. He’s probably been up and left by now. 

Your assumption was proven correct when you walk into the kitchen and see his coffee mug half empty sitting next to the keurig. You almost set it in the sink but, feeling rather petty, you leave it there for him to clean up later. You grab some water and then decide to shower. 

By the time you’re finished you can hear the tv going, signifying that Kihyun had returned. When you step out of the bathroom, he’s sitting at the breakfast bar. From the way he’s sitting you can tell he’d been waiting for you. His face does this weird thing, like it goes through several emotions and gets stuck somewhere between two. You stand there a moment cause he looks like he wants to say something but after what feels like the most awkward stare off you return to your room. When you come out 40 minutes later the tv is off and Kihyun is nowhere to be seen but his door is shut and shoes are laying next to the hall closet. This is pretty much the routine that you guys fall into for the next few days. You come home from work on the fourth day and are about to make some food when Kihyun walks in and yells, actually yells like a caveman, and you jump about 6 inches.

“What the hell, Kihyun?” You half yell whirling around, trying to get your heartbeat back under control.

“Get out,” he tells you sharply. He even goes so far as to come up and start pushing you out of the kitchen. “Out, I’m making dinner tonight!” You gape at him from the doorway for a moment but before you can yell at him he continues. “I’m making dinner tonight and we’re going to eat together and you’re going to let me apologize finally.” 

You snap your mouth shut, watch him pull random ingredients from the fridge then walk over to the couch and turn on some cheesy Christmas movie. You can tell when it’s almost done because your whole apartment smells spicy and you realize that Kihyun has made your favorite tteokbokki. You’re about to get up to offer to set the table when a plate is placed in front of your nose. You glance up and gingerly take the plate from your roommate, before you can say anything he places his own plate on the battered coffee table and walks away. He returns carrying a tray with several side dishes for you to share. He finally sits next to you, but farther than he would normally. Neither of you touches the food yet and you’re both staring at the tv. Just as you’re about to crack a joke to ease the tension he begins speaking.

“___, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said any of that. And I should have let you know that my friends were coming over that night. I knew you were coming home and you had told me how draining your family could be, I could’ve at least let you know that I had invited them.”

You wait a moment to see if he would continue but he seemed to have finished for now, waiting with bated breath for you to respond. 

“I’m not going to say it’s okay, Kihyun, cause it’s very much not,” he nods but doesn’t say anything so you continue. “You completely disregarded and disrespected me that night.” 

“I know. I’m so sorry, I don’t even have any excuse for it.” It’s your turn to nod this time. “Will you forgive me? Please,” he finally looks over at you and it makes you want to pat his head the way he’s all hunched in on himself. “I can’t afford this place if you move out.” 

It takes you a moment to process what he said and you can’t help but laugh. “Fine, just this once.” He perks up and gives you a shy smile.

“Thanks,” he says and finally relaxes his shoulders and reaches for his food. You let the movie play for a while, enjoying the spicy food and comfortable silence between you before Kihyun speaks again. “You know Hoseok-hyung went out after you but couldn’t find you,” he says it more as a statement than a question.

“I didn’t. Oh, I hope he didn’t look for very long. It was cold that night.” 

“And Hyunwoo-hyung, well he didn’t yell but it would’ve been better if he had. I felt like 2 inches big once he got done talking to me.” You snicker cause deep down you’re a little petty and it makes you feel better. “Yah,” he says but there’s no real heat behind it. “They all stayed around for awhile to apologize but you didn’t come back and most of them had to work the next day.”

“You could have called me,” you point out, looking over at him for the first time since he sat down. You pause for just a moment because on top of his head is a red glittery bow, it wasn’t there when he handed you your plate and you hadn’t looked at him when he set the tray down. You decide to come back to that later, once the important stuff is over with.

“Yeah,” he scratches his arm out a nervous habit, “I wasn’t sure you’d actually pick up though.”

“Fair enough.”

“And Hoseok-hyung actually smacked the back of my head for being rude to you.” 

“You deserved it.”

“Yaaaah,” he whines.

“Kihyun?” You ask, figuring that now was a good time to ask.

“Yeah, ___?”

“Why are you wearing a bow?”

He pats his head like he had forgotten it was there and his cheeks go rosy, “uh, well see I was super mean to you but I didn’t know what you liked enough to buy you a gift to go with my apology so ImadedinnerandI’myourpresent.” The last bit comes out very rushed that it takes you a moment to decipher it. You laugh lightly and thank him, for dinner and for apologizing, and for your gift (you make him wear the bow for the rest of the night).

“Hey,” you begin as the next movie starts, “who was the girl that night?”

“What girl,” he asks looking at you like you’ve gone crazy.

“The ugly half naked one, with the stringy blonde hair,” you say, trying to recount any definitive facial features but coming up blank. Kihyun suddenly starts laughing so hard he nearly chokes on his tteokbokki. When he finally stops there’s actual tears in his eyes.

“Oh my god, I can’t wait to tell him,” you stare at him in bewilderment. “It wasn’t a girl, it was Changkyun. He had gone into your room trying to find the cat and came out wearing your skirt instead and the wig you wore for Halloween,” the image sets him off again and you can’t help but join him. You knew he would tell him and Changkyun would pout for a week after.

“Kihyun, if you ever tell me to go to my room again, I’ll kick your short butt off the fire escape.”

“Fair enough,” he repeats your words from earlier. “Hey, I’m pretty tall!”


End file.
